If it’s a truism that the only thing that matters about real estate is location, location, location, then it’s another that when it comes to vacation rentals, the thing that matters most to Durango residents about the proposed code is enforcement, enforcement, enforcement.
The city is in the process of reviewing and revising its current vacation rental code to complete the new Land Use Development Code, which is scheduled to go into effect July 1. The Community Development Department held a public meeting Tuesday to gather comments on vacation rentals overall and share four different scenarios being considered for the updated ordinance.
Staff currently is recommending the second option, which allows one vacation rental per block face, which is the area between two parallel streets, the avenue and the alley, said Scott Shine, who is spearheading the vacation rental ordinance development process. The change from the current requirement of a 500-foot buffer would more than double the number of vacation rentals allowed in the historic residential area downtown, dubbed EN-1, from 24 to 59 and increase those allowed in the avenues that parallel north Main Avenue, EN-2, from 28 to 43.
“It’s putting a business in a neighborhood,” said former Durango Mayor Maxine Peterson, who struggles with the whole concept. “And it’s especially difficult on East Third Avenue, where we’re trying to preserve a historical neighborhood.”
Durango is not the only place is struggling with regulating vacation rentals.
“This is a debate that is playing out across the country,” said Greg Hoch, director of Community Development. “Not only in big cities like New York and San Francisco, but in smaller towns like Estes Park, Telluride and Santa Fe. We’re tracking all of them.”
Shine said vacation rentals are a booming business of $24 billion, incorporating about 8 percent of the U.S. vacation market. The biggest issue locally, he said, is the spacing and density of the rentals.
But at Tuesday’s meeting, the 45 or so residents who attended seemed more concerned about enforcement than density. In recent history, code-enforcement officers have responded only when neighbors complained, which one attendee said was akin to living in North Korea.
“It’s the last thing I want to be doing,” said Darrah Westrup, who lives on East Third Avenue. “I want to be raising my family, not policing my neighborhood.”
Shine said the biggest enforcement problem is with illegal, nonpermitted vacation rentals, and he and Steve Barkley, one of two code-enforcement officers in town, already have begun identifying those and sending out letters. They reviewed the websites of the three largest marketers of vacation rentals and found 51 listed on Vacation Rentals By Owner, 32 on Airbnb and 35 on Home Away Vacation Rentals, but only 26 are legally permitted by the city.
“We’re in fluctuation at the moment while we’re trying to get the LUDC finalized,” Barkley said. “We’re able to trace the nonpermitted vacation rentals pretty easily online and in the newspapers, and we can track them down pretty quickly and either bring them into compliance or issue a cease-and-desist.”
A new requirement in the code will be that all permit holders must put their permit numbers in all advertisements, which will make it easier and faster for officers to identify the illegal vacation rentals.
City Manager Ron LeBlanc was on hand to give a reality check.
“With (Accessory Dwelling Units), you’ll have to be a little patient, but vacation rental enforcement will be a little more immediate,” he said. “But we also have recreational marijuana coming up on Jan. 1, and we can’t shirk or do anything less than what needs to happen on that.”
The vacation rental code has strict compliance rules. If a permit holder is issued three violations in a certain time period, the permit is revoked. The most frequent violations are trash left out during bear season and noise at night, Shine said, but it’s also considered a violation if the designated local contact does not respond to a complaint.
“The city may have other things it can do,” LeBlanc said. “I don’t know if the city attorney will allow it, but we can shut off the water. It would be pretty hard to rent without water.”
City Council will review the comments submitted at the meeting and those received online and will meet with staff in a study session Tuesday, when Hoch anticipates councilors will give direction on what parameters should be outlined in the ordinance.
abutler@durangoherald.com
Vacation Rental Density Option (PDF)
To comment
Comments about the proposed vacation rental code may be emailed to Scott Shine at scott.shine@durangogov.org no later than 4:30 p.m. Monday. Visit www.durangogov.org, click on “Departments,” “Community Development” and then “Planning” to find the history of vacation rentals in Durango, a map of those currently permitted as well as the proposed code and its alternatives.
City staff will present comments and its recommendations to City Council during a study session from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, when it is anticipated the council will give direction to staff members for the ordinance to be written.
At 6:30 p.m. May 20, the council will accept public comments on the proposed ordinance.
